Staking Claims
by DannyPhanto fan
Summary: Nature. You got to love it; survival of the fittest...nothing can stop Mother Nature.
1. Chapter 1

**Staking Claims**

**Disclaimer**_**: I don't own Ben 10 and/or Ben 10: Alien Force and/or any and/or all concepts and/or characters. They are copyrighted to Man of Action and Cartoon Network Studios. I also don't own the brand-name of Lysol; that is trademarked to Reckitt Benckiser Inc. I am a mere Fanfiction author. With far too much time on her hands and no social life.**_

**Rated: **_**T**_

**Part One: Scent Markers**

"Whoa!" Ben yelped as he entered his cousin's room, pinching his nose, "What have you guys been doing in here?!"

"What're you talking about?" Gwen replied bemusedly.

"It stinks of Kevin!"

"What?!" she sniffed, drawing in lung-fuls of her bedroom's air, "No it doesn't…"

"Yeah it does!" Ben grabbed up a can of Lysol and began spraying it liberally, beginning to cough, "I have to get outta here." He dropped the can and ran out, with her in pursuit.

"What's wrong with you?" she demanded as they stood on the front porch.

"His smell was all over that room…" he gulped air.

"I get that but you hang around him all the time! What was different?!"

"I don't know! Okay?! I don't know! All I know is that that the moment I was in that room something was telling me to get out or something very bad was gonna happen. My_** life**_ was flashing before my eyes!"

"Now you're exaggerating it."

"No I'm not! I'm being dead serious! What have you two been doing?!"

"Nothing! I swear! We just sit and talk, you know de-stress from life…"

"You have to have done something more than that, it smells like someone put his scent into a can and sprayed it all over your room!"

"Plumber's Honor, all we do is sit and talk."

"Do you have anything of his?"

"Some clothes he's left after I've bandaged him up after battles but that's all."

"I can't go back in there; something bad will happen…"

"You're being silly Ben—"

"No I'm not! My gut's telling me that I can't go back in there and I listen to my gut!"

She saw that he was really freaked out about this, and sighed, "Alright, we can talk out here."


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two: Items of Interest**

"Gwendolyn?!" Jen Tennyson called, having been folding her daughter's wash and found something that alarmed her quite a bit.

"Yeah Mom?" the younger redhead came limping down the stairs, a nice black eye developing as a badge from the previous night's battle. Her mother never used her full name unless it was serious.

"Why are these here?" The older woman held up emerald boxers, "They're not Ben's I know that…Honey, if you and that boy are becoming more inti—"

"Mom! _**STOP**_!" Gwen yelped, going bright scarlet, "It's not what you think—we're just friends I swear!"

"Then why are they in this house?!"

"Because I'm his designated medic; his thigh got torn open one night in a battle, my house was closet. I've managed to repair his clothes 'cause if we threw out everything that got ripped or bloody we all be nude and broke. I was having trouble getting the blood out via my powers so I decided the muggle way might work. You'll find a pair of his jeans and his shirt in there too."

"Why are you his medic and not Ben?"

"Because he's a sissy when it comes to medical stuff and I'm the only one with enough power to hold him still long enough so that I can fix whatever got hurt. Besides he trusts me so…"

"When you triage him is he—?"

"Sometimes yes; yes Mom I've seen a naked man, it's no big deal…and he's seen me as he is my medic for the very same reasons I'm his…" she sighed, "Can I go put my leg up now?"

"You're on birth control right?"

"Oh god Mom; please, not right now!"

"Are you on—?!"

"Yes Mom, I'm on birth control; I know the talk and about protection; you do not have to make me review everything. Can I go lay down, please?"

"If you're sure…you know you can always talk to me right? I mean, I may be human but—"

"Mom, trust me, if I was doing anything with anyone I'd tell you…maybe not Dad but I'd definitely tell you…" Gwen smiled softly.

Jen returned the smile, nodding, "Alright, go relax."

"Thanks Mom, do me a favor and separate his outfit from my stuff okay?"

"Of course."

"Thanks, love you…"

"Love you too honey…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three: Sick Wear**

She blew her nose into the Kleenex, coughing afterwards. It wasn't logical; she was an alien and yet the common cold knocked her out for a week or two!

And her clothing was so uncomfortable too; so uncomfortable as to make her use her comrade's shirt. It was comically overlarge on her but that's what made it bearable for right now.

"Hey Sicko," a familiar voice teased and her head snapped to the side to see Kevin Levin perched on the window sill.

"Go away," she coughed, "I'm not in the mood to deal wiACCCHHHHHOOOOOOOOO! Ugh…"

He frowned, "Should I take you to Cooper?"

"No Kev; I'm sick, not dying." She blew her nose again.

Suddenly he was at her side, a hand feeling for her temperature, "You're hot."

"You finally noticed," she snarked, grumpy because of her clogged sinuses, sore chest muscles and achy joints.

"Too hot…" he continued before swiftly yanking her blanket from her and pulling her up into his arms. He carried her to the bathroom, ignoring the startled looks of her parents who they passed in the hallway, and laid her in the tub before turning on the ice water.

"KEVIN!" she yelped as the cold hit her, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"You're running a fever," he explained, pulling off her shirt which only then he noticed was actually his, "you're uncomfortable and it does need to break so an ice bath should be enough…"

"That's sweet…" she acknowledged, in between coughs, "but you're overreacting, again."

"I don't care, why were you wearing my stuff?" he sat against the tub side, facing away from her so he didn't get to see her blush.

"It was comfy and cool…" she told him before muttering beneath her breath, "Smells comfy too…"

But he heard it, "That fever must be making you nuts…" although the strangest feeling of pride filled him

It became silent.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Four: Clues**

She closed her locker, looking at her watch. There was no planned mission, no patrol, that afternoon; they were free to be kids again.

"GWENDOLYN!"

She wished she could bash her skull in using her locker but she took a calming breath and turned to face the young man.

Pitney Tamarius was her age, blonde and blue eyed with the most charming smile ever seen; he also went through girls like Kleenex. He was now stalking Gwen, the only girl in the school to have resisted his charms completely, almost obsessively.

He was thorough, she'd give him that much; he had, through a combination of stalking and detective work, deduced her favorite…_**everything**_. He had even switched to the body wash Kevin used for god's sake.

So he brought her her favorite candies, books, even stuffed animals, all while hoping to win her favor.

And even though he smelled like her favorite friend there was something missing; the deeper spicier bit of the scent she was so accustomed was missing and so it didn't set off the physical and mentally reactions that happened around the real one.

And Pitney didn't get the hints she dropped of her rejection, either that or he ignored them.

Her patience with him was thinning slowly.

But she smiled, an idiot could have seen it was forced though, and greeted, "Hey Pitney…"

He came to a stop in front of her and grinned, "Finished your work from Mr. Aldo's?"

"Yep."

He seemed disappointed before he grinned again, "Me too…So I was thinking we could go catch a movie…?"

"Nothing I wanna see." She spoke in a rejecting tone but again he didn't catch it or ignored it.

"Hmmm, how's about going for a ride? My grandfather breeds Arabians you know…"

"I'm not a cowgirl Pitney…"

"Then let's break you in, it's always fun to watch a newbie ride—"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by his face meeting the locker row.

In hindsight she should have known he was in the vicinity; that familiar prickling of her nerves, that familiar scent, properly spicy and very attracting, had invade her nostrils. Now as she watched she should have been angry, upset with him for ramming a human boy's head into sheet steel, but she wasn't.


	5. Chapter 5

**Part Five: Alpha Male Instincts**

He had arrived on the scene just in time to hear, "Then let's break you in" and to see Gwen shifting her weight nervously.

Not good.

Adrenaline and testosterone flooded his system, tinting everything a slight angry red and without warning he grabbed the offending male and then shoved him skull-first into the lockers. They dented under the force.

He then put him in a hold that had been honed on the streets of the New York slums and other underbelly-ish areas.

His foe was immobilized in a modified head-lock that also tripped up the legs and pinned the arms into uselessness and one wrong move would have snapped his neck.

"You made a very big mistake," he snarled into his opponent's ear, "a very big mistake involving a very, very, very volatile man."

"Dude! Calm down!" Pitney cried out fearfully.

"Heh, not gonna happen." Pitney met the lockers again, denting them deeper, "You see where I come from you fight for what you have, you fight for the people you care about. Any sign of danger triggers the fight or flight response and I fight. Now Gwen here happens to be one of the few people I give a damn about, but it goes deeper than that about her my good sir. So, here's the deal; you leave her alone and I won't gut you like a fish where you sta—"

"Kev, stop."

His head turned to find her at his side, "But I—he—you—Can't I—?"

"No, Kev; this isn't you, not the you I know; I'm not going anywhere with anyone other than you; let the boy go, _**please**_."

He released the young man promptly, his fisting and unfisting fists going to his sides.

Gwen stepped towards her peer, kneeling and saying softly, "Pitney. I'm sorry about Kevin's behavior. It would be wise that you quit trying to nab me. The consequences will be disastrous for you."

"Is he abusing you?!" Pitney demanded around a bloody nose.

Kevin snarled more ferally than before while Gwen just chuckled, "No Pitney, I am not afraid of Kevin nor is he abusing me in any manner. I am quite capable of incapacitating him if need be…I am not up for grabs, do you understand Pitney?"

"But I—!"

"No you are not better for me than him; I am not only interested in his bad boy image. I will never be interested in you. Give up."

"Fine."

"Good." She stood up and walked back to the still wild looking Kevin, putting a hand on his forearm, saying softly, "Let's get outta here, La Soladad, I'm driving."

He merely grunted boorishly and allowed her to lead him away from his potential victim.

This just proved something to him; he wasn't safe to be around her. She brought out his baser instincts; he could lose control one day and hurt her…_**or worse**_.

Even now she was tempting; some primal part of him wanted to claim her and make sure she knew who exactly she belonged to. He'd bruise and bite her, leaving marks of his ownership. The experience would be rough and painful, angry…

But she wasn't a prize to be won; she wasn't something to be defiled as he fantasized. And the fact that he already thought of her as such was a big warning sign that he wasn't right for her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part Six: Just Talking **

They had arrived at the old military base of La Soladad and she drug him, by the hand, to the alien made hot spring. The DNAliens had hit a heated underground lake while digging and so those in the know often used it to de-stress after physical altercations. Cooper and Kevin had worked together to make it quite usable; installing lockers, changing, and showers.

"Strip." She ordered sternly and he did as told before sliding into the water. She put his clothes into his locker before going into her favorite pair of shorts, a bikini top, and flip-flops. She sat at the water's edge, legs folded up beneath her, and automatically he leaned back into her.

"So," she started, in a light tone, after awhile as she worked with the knots in his neck and shoulders, "what got your panties in a knot this time?"

"Nothin'." He grunted, eyes shut as both the water and her hands loosened everything tense in him.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," she singed-songed him before becoming serious, "Really, Kev, what happened?"

"Nothin'."

"Something happened, you haven't attacked a guy like that since Darkstar; you could've seriously hurt him, he was only human…"

"He was asking for it," he rumbled gravelly before silencing completely.

"How was he asking for it? He was being stupid not dangerous…"

"You were saying no and he wasn't listening…"

"I can take care of myself, even without powers…there's something else; tell me, please."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it's stupid and impossible and will never happen."

She rapped her knuckles on his forehead harshly, "_**Hello**_? Aliens, Plumbers, magic, nothing's _**impossible**_ in our lives."

"Yeah well this is." He chuckled dejectedly. Staying in the "Friend Zone" was better than nothing; he'd be her best friend, he might be able to live with that.

"C'mon Kev,' she almost begged him, "I can't help if you don't let me in."

"You're already too far," he breathed, hoping she couldn't hear it.

"Whaddya mean?" apparently she had heard it. Her hands stopped moving.

His eyes broke open; he had just shot any chance of mere friendship with her straight to hell.

And then he saw them, glitteringly bright in the dim light of the cavern, tears were slipping down her cheeks.

He had made her cry. This was just perfect. How much of a monster could he be? Maybe he should just go massacre her family just to finish becoming a monster…

Cowardly he swam to the other side; he broke everything he touched; he should just send himself into the Void, find someone who didn't like to play with their food.

Her tears hit the water below her, _**plink plink plink**_.

Her eyes were hidden from him as her head was bowed. In defeat.

She had thought he trusted her; she had become comfortable with the idea that he trusted her and now that it had been ripped out from under her she _**hurt**_. It had struck her deeper than anything else beforehand.

For two years, nearly three now, she had thought…

Earning his trust had been her number one goal in her friendship with him; to show him that not everyone he could ever know would backstab him at the first chance to. He was very emotionally, socially, and mentally fragile, his bravado aside. She knew that he had to gain some trust in the universe and that the key would be baby stepping him to it.

And then she fell in love. With a guy that trusted no one. 'Way to go Gwen!' she thought derisively.

"Please don't cry…" she heard him call.

"I thought you trusted me…" she replied, sniffling.

"I do trust you." He told her sharply.

"Sure didn't sound like it; you said I was in too far already."

"That was about something else, something else completely. You gotta believe me."

"Then what was it about?"

"I can't tell you," he shook his head ruefully.

"Why not?!" she cried out.

"Because it'll ruin everything and I can't lose…" he froze, stopping himself before it was too late for once.

"Lose what?" she urged, tears slowing.

"No, I won't…"

"Kev, if you trust me, let me help you."

"If I let you help me you'd never get rid of me ever again!"

"What're you talking about?!"

"Goddamit! I love you okay!?" he panted, then he realized that he had let his secret go; he went bleached bone white.

She froze, hardly breathing.

"I mean it," he began rambling, "but I'm no good, and if you start dating me and then we break up you'll have a psychotic sociopathic stalker following your every move for the rest of your life. Besides I'm a dead end, no job other than Plumbers I won't be able to give you what you deserve."

"What if I think you're good enough?" she whispered.

"You're wrong then; I'm not good enough…"

"Some part of you must think so; the way you let loose on Pitney…that was about me wasn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah it was. It was instinct though; he was messing with what's mine…"

"I'm yours?" she asked rather bemusedly.

"Yes—No! No, no, you're not mine."

"But you just said…"

"I'm wrong okay? I'm stupid and evil and only switched sides 'cause of you. I'm a monster in human form; I'm too dangerous; I'll hurt you; we both know it—"

There was a slight splashing sound as she slipped into the water, wading to be inches from him, "You're not stupid or dangerous and you definitely aren't evil—"

He let out a humorless snort, "Yeah right; one of these days I'm gonna screw up like I did before…it'll be back to the Void…"

Her hands came to rest on his forearms, "That was before; you were just a kid, alone and scared and not on the needed meds; you're different now…"

"That was still me though," he gripped her biceps, barely holding himself from shaking her into seeing reason; "I can still snap and then snap you!"

"No you won't, you're on the right track now. You have counseling and the proper medications and you can control yourself; your powers. You have the self control, you didn't have that before. I trust you, Kev; I know you won't hurt me."

"You can't know that!" he yelled, "I hurt you by accident all the time! How many times have you gotten bruises just from me touching your shoulders!? I broke a couple of your ribs by _**hugging**_ you!"

"By _**accident**_!" she argued just as ferociously, "Meaning you didn't intend to!"

"But it still happens! I hurt you and I shouldn't be! You can't be with a guy that hurts you!"

"You're still learning self-control!"

"And I don't wanna learn on you!"

She snarled, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him passionately.

"You're the one I want," she whispered against his lips after a few seconds, "you're good enough for me so stop being such an idiot about it and get it through your thick skull!"

"I won't let go," he warned her, his arms creeping to be around her waist, "you'll never get away from me; nothing, nowhere will be able to hide you from me…"

Her lips curved into a smirk, "_**Good**_."


	7. Chapter 7

**Part Seven: Scent (Revisited)**

"Oh god!" Ben swore as his comrades joined him and his girlfriend, Julie. What was once the most wonderful of scents now made him want to vomit.

But his friends were covered in each other's scent, which was mixed in with a heady, musky scent.

In short it was the scent of sex; when it clung to him and Julie, Ben loved it; it was one of the best smells in the universe. But now being assaulted by it from his comrade and her…whatever he was now defined as for her…made him sick to his stomach.

And what made it worse was the fact that he'd be able to smell whenever they… he lost the battle and barfed, into his smoothie.

"Doing okay Ben?" Julie asked worriedly, feeling his forehead for a fever.

"No." he groaned.

"What's going on with you?" Gwen asked, sitting down with her food and smoothie; Kevin sat beside her, snagging a couple fries from her plate.

"You two smell like sex!"

She caught a fry in her throat in shock, sputtering and wheezing as she began pounding at her own chest. Kevin soon slammed his fist against her back and dislodged it. With her eyes watering she made some gesture of thanks before asking, "We smell like what exactly?!"

"_**SEX**_. You know, the birds and the bees, the carnal act…"

"And how do we smell of that?"

"You did it and I can smell it!"

"You can _**smell**_ it?!"

"My nose has the nose bits of thousands of aliens, I can smell things I shouldn't be able to and you two smell like sex. It's very strong and distinct, you did it multiple times, and very disgusting. In fact…"

He got up and ran to a garbage can and bent over it, vomiting everything he had eaten in the past twenty-four hours. Julie went to aid him in anyway possible, leaving the two who caused this alone.

"He can smell that we—?"

"We are so _**screwed**_."

_**END**_


End file.
